Cranberry Heaven (Cranberry Cream Puffs)

My family and I celebrated Thanksgiving this year at my mother’s home in New Jersey. We hosted a small party on Friday that concentrated on appetizers and desserts.

We served a very small main course (stuffed shells and salad), surrounded by delectable non-“serious” foods. We began the evening with shrimp, bruschetta, lots and lots of cheeses, hummus, my chipotle cranberry sauce, and nibbly nutty snacks.

Later I unveiled my favorite new creation: tiny cranberry cream puffs.

I was inspired to make them by reading about the annual Cranberry Festival in Warrens, Wisconsin.

Warrens doesn’t have a large population. About as many people live there, in fact, as in my tiny hometown of Hawley, Massachusetts (just under 400).

Each September, however, more than 100,000 people visit Warrens for a weekend-long tribute to the town’s signature crop, cranberries.

The festival features marsh tours, sales, a parade, a variety of contests, and of course lots and lots of foods made with cranberries.

Festival manager Kim Billiard sent me The Best of Cranfest. This cookbook offers recipes for cakes, salads, sauces, muffins, and meat dishes (to name a few) using fresh or processed cranberries. I plan to make and post one of these in the near future.

Kim admitted, however, that she didn’t have the recipe for the special cranberry confection I had read about online—the cranberry cream puffs sold each year by the local Sweet Adelines. She put me in touch with Mary Castner of the Sweet Adelines. I asked Mary how she made these treats.

“There really isn’t a recipe,” Mary told me. “All we do is we whip a quart of cream. And after it’s whipped we take jellied cranberries, and we mush them up. And we just swirl about a half a cup of them into the cream.”

She added that the group adds sugar and vanilla to the cream as well and explained that the Adelines put the filling into commercial frozen puffs to ensure uniformity.

“We sell a lot of them,” she asserted.

I decided to make my own cream puffs instead of buying frozen ones (I scoff at uniformity!) and found a simple recipe at the King Arthur Flour web site.

My nine-year-old nephew Michael helped me put them together. He worried a little about his ability to shape the puffs. “I’m not good with spoons,” he declared.

Michael really loved the idea of eating cranberry cream puffs, however, so he conquered his spoon phobia.

Michael stirs the puffs.

I was pretty sure I wanted a higher cranberry/cream ratio than 1/2 cup to 1 quart. So I upped the cranberry ante in our cream puffs.

The resulting puffs were, in Michael’s words, “just about perfect.”

The filling isn’t super stable so guests were encouraged to assemble their own puffs. Some chose a classic cream puff and hid a small amount of filling inside their puffs. Some slathered on the filling so you could see it a mile away.

My friend Wendy told me they were the highlight of her Thanksgiving weekend.

I urge you all to try them this holiday season. They’re easy. They’re festive (SO PINK!). And they’re sheer heaven to eat.

I also urge you to vote for them in the Bon Appétit Holiday Dessert Bake-Off. Bon Appétit magazine is collecting holiday recipes from bloggers all over the United States and asking readers to vote for them.

I know my chances of winning are slight; the contest began on November 1, and I’ve only just discovered it. It never hurts to try, however!

Here’s the link for voting (you have to register in order to vote, but you DO NOT have to subscribe to the magazine). I'm listed in the final category, "miscellaneous desserts."

Voting ends December 13.

Thank you! Now, here's the recipe, It looks long, but it's really a cinch........

Ingredients:

for the jellied cranberries:

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
12 ounces cranberries

for the cream puffs:

1 cup water
1/2 cup (1 stick) sweet butter
1-1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs at room temperature (place them in warm water for a few minutes to achieve the right temperature)

for the filling:

2 cups heavy cream
confectioner’s sugar and vanilla to taste (we used about 1/4 cup sugar—maybe a little more--and 2 teaspoons vanilla)
1 recipe jellied cranberries

for assembly:

a small amount of confectioner’s sugar (optional)

Instructions:

for the jellied cranberries:

Make the jellied cranberries early—ideally the day before—so they will have plenty of time to cool and jell. Yes, of course, you MAY use canned jellied cranberry sauce. It won’t taste as good as the fresh version, however; the canning process and the high-fructose corn syrup in most cans diminish the flavor. And making the stuff is pretty darn easy.

In a medium saucepan combine the water and sugar and bring them to a boil. Add the cranberries, and return the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, and boil the sauce for 10 more minutes. (If it gets too fuzzy, add a tiny bit of butter.)

Remove the sauce from the heat, and push it through a stainless-steel strainer. You’ll end up with about 1-1/2 cups of sauce and a small amount of solid matter; you may discard the latter.

Cool the sauce, covered, at room temperature; then refrigerate it until you are ready to assemble your cream puffs.

for the puffs:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease two cookie sheets or line them with silicone. (King Arthur Flour suggests using parchment sheets, but mine singed a bit in the hot oven.)

In a medium saucepan bring the water, butter, and salt to a rolling boil. Throw in the flour all at once. Using a wooden spoon stir it in quickly until it becomes smooth and follows the spoon around the pan. Remove the pan from the heat.

Let it rest until it is cool enough so that you can stick your finger in and hold it there for a few seconds (this takes about 5 minutes).

Place the dough in a mixer bowl, and beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating vigorously after each egg. Make sure you continue beating for 1 minute after the last egg goes in. The dough will be stiff.

Drop teaspoonsful of dough onto the cookie sheets, leaving enough space between them so the puffs can expand to golf-ball size in the oven.

Bake the puffs until they puff and begin to turn a light golden brown. (King Arthur Flour estimated this at 20 minutes; my oven is a little hot so it took only 15 for me.)

Remove them from the oven and quickly use a sharp knife to cut a small slit in the side of each puff. (This keeps the puffs from getting soggy.) Return them to the oven for 5 more minutes.

Remove the puffs from the oven and cool them on wire racks. If your oven is hot like mine and you have burned the bottoms slightly, use a sharp knife to remove the blackened portions.

for the filling:

Just before you are ready to assemble your puffs, whip the cream until it is thick and forms nice peaks, adding the sugar and vanilla toward the end of this process.

Use a mixer or whisk to break up the jellied cranberry sauce into a thick liquid (instead of a solid). Gently fold it into the whipped cream.

for assembly:

Carefully cut open each puff in the middle; you will find that each of them has what King Arthur Flour calls a “natural fault line.”

Decorate the bottom of each puff with the cranberry-cream mixture and replace the top. Sprinkle a little confectioner’s sugar on top if desired.

Makes about 40 cream puffs.

Mother Jan was queen of the cream-puff party.

Thanksgiving Report: Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie

Aunt Lura (in seasonal headband) poses with the cranberry apple pie.

Like most Americans, my family can’t imagine Thanksgiving without pie. My Aunt Lura volunteered to bring a pumpkin creation to our table Thursday so our side of the family only had to make two pies.

(Of course, we didn’t actually have to make even two since we were feeding only eight people, but what is Thanksgiving without excess?)

We knew my honorary cousin Eric was coming so we baked our favorite key-lime pie. Eric is the nephew of my late wonderful semi-godmother Dagny Johnson, who lived on Key Largo, so we HAD to celebrate the Florida Keys.

(You can read more about Dagny and get the key-lime pie recipe in this post from April.)

We also wanted to celebrate our local bounty so we made another pie with two fruits native to both my home state, Massachusetts, and mother’s home state, New Jersey—apples and cranberries.

I had the not very bright idea of making the pie crust with apple cider instead of water to enhance the apple flavor. It DID help the flavor. It also made the crust much harder to manage! So I don’t suggest it. Just use your standard pie crust.

In fact, I’m thinking another time I might eschew the pie crust altogether and call the dish Cranberry Apple Crumble. (If I do, I’ll let you know how it turns out.)

Aside from the sticky crust, everything about this pie proved a success—the apple-cranberry ratio, the rich crumb topping, the contrasting textures. My family highly recommends it.

The Pie

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoon flour plus 1/2 cup later
3 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2 cups cranberries
1 9-inch pie crust

1/2 cup oatmeal (regular, not quick)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) sweet butter (you could probably get by with less, but THIS WAS THANKSGIVING FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE!)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl combine the sugar, cinnamon, salt, and tablespoon of flour. Add the fruit and toss to combine. Pour this mixture into your pie shell.

In another bowl combine the remaining flour, the oatmeal, and the brown sugar. Cut in the butter. Pour this crumbly topping over your pie.

Bake the pie for 10 minutes; then reduce the oven temperature to 350 and continue baking for 30 more minutes. Serves 8.

Cranberry Corner (Cranberry Chipotle Sauce)

As I type this Tuesday evening I am surrounded by red. I’ve been playing with cranberries today. I can’t resist their deep, rich color and their sweet/tart flavor.

I tried making cranberry vinegar (NOT a success–I’ll try again next Thanksgiving).

I made jellied cranberry sauce for the cranberry cream puffs my family plans to serve at a party on Friday (recipe to follow).

And I made gorgeous, delectable cranberry chipotle sauce.

I’m not serving it with the turkey on Thanksgiving; my family would rebel! (I will try it with meat or poultry one of these days, however.)

Instead, it’s scheduled to accompany crackers and soft cheese as an appetizer for Friday’s party.

Naturally, my family had to try it this evening. After all, we wouldn’t want to serve something to guests that didn’t pass our own test. And to tell you the truth, I tried making it last year with limited success. I diluted the basic cranberry and chipotle flavors with too much onion and garlic.

A cook shouldn’t mess with her cranberries!

Now that I have learned that lesson, here is the simple recipe. You don’t have to make this sauce for Thanksgiving–but it might inspire you to host your own party this weekend (or just sit at home and eat it with leftover turkey).

Have a wonderful day……….

Cranberry Chipotle Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 12-ounce bag cranberries
2 chipotles in adobo (out of a can), finely chopped, plus about 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from the can

Instructions:

In a nonreactive saucepan combine the water and sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil.

When the sugar water is boiling stir in the chopped chipotles, sauce, and cranberries.

Return the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes (stir occasionally).

Pour the sauce into a bowl, cover it, and let it cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Makes about 2 cups.

(I told you it was easy!)

Pumpkin Pie Plus

As a child I was the only member of my family who didn’t gravitate toward pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. The custard filling was just a little too smooth for me.

As a grown up I am more enthusiastic, although the consistency still tends to flummox me. The recipe below solves the consistency issue by addiing other textures to the custard’s custardiness.

The flavors it adds don’t hurt, either!

The pie looks appropriatel festive in my pumpkin-shaped pan from Wilton, but you may of course use a standard pie pan. Here’s the recipe………..

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups pumpkin or winter squash puree
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger or allspice (or a bit of each)
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup water
2 eggs
2/3 cup caramels
3 tablespoons cream
1 handful toasted pecans
1 handful toasted coconut
1 9-inch pie shell

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Whisk together the pumpkin, sugars, spices, milk, water, and eggs. Place the combination in the unbaked pie shell. Bake for 10 minutes; then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes, or until firm. Allow the pie to cool for a few minutes.

In a small saucepan combine the caramels and cream. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until they melt together.

Drizzle the caramel mixture over the pie, and top with the pecans and coconut. (If you’d rather save some caramel to drizzle over the top, please do so!)
Serves 6 to 8.

Pie in the Sky

You will eat bye and bye
In that glorious land above the sky.
Work and pray, live on hay,
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.

– Joe Hill, “The Preacher and the Slave”

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’m ready to devote a few words to pie. Turkey is the center of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Cranberries are the jewels that adorn the table. But pie is the not-to-be-missed culmination of this late November feast. It arrives with fanfare and seldom disappoints eaters.

Why pie? Like Thanksgiving itself it’s old fashioned. And (again like Thanksgiving itself) it represents a fair amount of work. Most of us don’t roll out pie crust every day so when we do it’s an event. At their best Thanksgiving pies are a family effort, made with love and many hands.

Pie is also ideal fare for this time of year when skies darken and breezes blow. It fills us, warms us, and comforts us as November chills our bones.

So—my next couple of posts will be pre-Thanksgiving pie recipes. The first one actually isn’t precisely for Thanksgiving proper since it’s a main-dish pie made with ham. (I’m always willing to stray from turkey, but I find that my family simply won’t consider any other main dish.)

It would be great for Thanksgiving Eve, however, or for one of those days after Thanksgiving when you just can’t look at a piece of turkey any longer, let alone consider eating it.

This ham pie is adapted from one created by Lucinda Finck of Heath, Massachusetts. I found it in The Heath Fair Cookbook, a staple of my cookbook shelf. If you don’t have fresh herbs to include, you may do without them or use a smaller quantity of dried herbs. The fresh ones really do taste wonderful in the pie, however.

Herbed Ham Pie

Ingredients:

for the filling:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) sweet butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if your ham is very salty)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
several shakes of the pepper grinder
1 small onion, finely minced
2 cups milk
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
2-1/2 cups diced ham
1 cup cooked peas
1/2 cup cooked carrots
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

for the crust:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
a handful of parsley, minced
1/4 cup cold butter
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

First prepare the filling: melt the butter. Blend in the flour, salt, mustard, and pepper. Add the onions and milk. Cook until thick.

Stir in the ham, egg pieces, vegetables, and thyme. Pour the filling into a 2-quart casserole dish.

Next, make the pastry: in a bowl combine the flour, cheese, salt, and parsley. Cut in the butter. Add the water until it forms a ball, and gently roll it out on a lightly floured board until it is large enough to cover the casserole dish. Place it on top.

Bake the pie for 20 to 30 minutes, until most of the crust is golden brown and the filling bubbles. Serves 4 to 6.

Blues in the Night (Deb's Blueberry Barbecue Sauce)

Johnny Mercer was born 100 years ago tomorrow, on November 18, 1909. A statue of the lyricist will be unveiled in his hometown, Savannah Georgia, on his birthday.

Tributes have been going on all year and will continue, including my own show “Blues in the Night,” scheduled for Friday evening, November 20. (I may just have mentioned it before!)

Alice Parker and I named our program “Blues in the Night” after one of Mercer’s best known musical creations.

“Blues” made its debut in a 1941 Warner Bros. film that was named after the song as soon as the producers heard it and realized what a musical hit they had on their hands.

The film itself, which recently aired on Turner Classic Movies, is peculiar to say the least.

It recounts the adventures of a small group of jazz musicians, including the dour Richard Whorf, the future film director Elia Kazan, and the always over-the-top Jack Carson.

These tunesters roam around the country trying to make a living being true to themselves as artists by playing music that is authentically American and bluesy.

They are inspired while sitting in a jail cell after a fight with a bar patron who wanted them to play less exalted music. As they ponder their future an African-American in a nearby cell (it’s a segregated jail) starts intoning,

My mama done tol’ me, when I was in knee highs,
My mama done tol’ me, “Son,
“A woman’ll sweet talk and give you the big eye,
“But when the sweet talkin’s done, a woman’s a two-face,
“A worrisome thing who’ll leave you to sing
“The Blues in the Night……”

The musicians immediately vow to run out and create the sort of authentic American folk jazz they have just heard.

Of course, one might think they would start by hiring the talented singer to whom they have just listened. Instead, they team up with Priscilla Lane. She’s pretty, but she’s a musical lightweight.

The film continues to defy expectations by throwing in assorted genres (it’s a musical, it’s a romance, it’s a gangster movie) and leaving plot lines dangling.

What looks like an incipient love interested between Lane and Whorf disappears. The rather pale musician who coughs a lot early in the film, who would end up dying of consumption in a normal Hollywood movie, loses his cough with no explanation.

The Bad Girl (Betty Field) who vamps half the male cast has about as much sex appeal as a flounder so the plot twists about her strong hold on men’s hearts and minds are rendered completely unbelievable. And so forth.

What shines in the movie–and haunts the soundtrack–is “Blues in the Night.” Happily, no one expected Priscilla Lane to sing this rather challenging song. It is repeated mostly instrumentally through the film, and it makes the story more moving than it would otherwise be.

Watching the film it was hard for me to believe that before it came out “Blues in the Night” didn’t exist. When they wrote it, Mercer and composer Harold Arlen created that rare thing, a song that sounds as though it has been around forever–as though it has sprung organically from ordinary people’s real lives.

More than the box cars and jail sets in which the actors pose, ”Blues” evokes the material conditions of working Americans just coming out of the Great Depression.

And more than any emotions expressed by this not very exciting cast (the best actors are in minor roles) the song expresses love and loss, humor and pathos–the very soul of the blues.

It’s not really in my ideal repertoire. Like Priscilla Lane I’m a lightweight singer. But I can’t resist its siren call.

Please sing it tomorrow in honor of Johnny Mercer’s birthday. If you feel a little lightweight, here’s a recipe to give you some substance.

It was invented by Debra Kozikowski of Chicopee, Massachusetts. Deb is a political activist and blogger who has recently launched her own food blog, The Other Woman Cooks. She won a contest sponsored by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council with this blueberry barbecue sauce.

Here’s the link to Deb's original post. As you can see, she is an avid fan of picking your own berries in season, although she did tell me I could use frozen berries for this recipe!

Debby marinated pork or chicken in the sauce and then grilled the meat, basting with the sauce. My grilling season is over so I browned medallions of pork tenderloin and baked them in the barbecue sauce (and just a little water) at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, uncovering them for the last few minutes.

I think you could probably use the sauce interchangeably with regular barbecue sauce. Like “Blues in the Night” it combines sweetness and heat in surprising fashion

Deb’s “Blues in the Night” Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon chili powder (I made this heaping)
1 teaspoon black pepper (I ground about 15 times)
1/2 teaspoon salt (Deb didn’t include this, but I thought it enhanced the flavors
1/2 cup water

Instructions:

Bring all the ingredients to a low boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened and chunky. Deb said this took 10 to 15 minutes; for me it took about 20 because when my frozen blueberries defrosted they were pretty wet.

Makes about 2 cups of sauce.

Pudding Perfection

I know! I’ve been posting TOO MANY SWEET RECIPES lately.

But I haven’t yet written about this year’s Pudding Hollow Pudding Festival. So here’s a brief report for pudding fans along with the winning recipe, a (gulp!) sweet pudding.

Save it for Thanksgiving when the calories will be just a small part of the day.

Our Day of Pudding was exhausting—and exhilarating—and just plain fun.

Its spooky scheduling (Halloween!) this year was an accident—the result of musical director Alice Parker’s busy schedule. We were a little worried that having the festival on this busy day would reduce attendance, but we had no choice so we decided to do it anyway.

It turns out that Halloween is a GREAT day for puddings! Several contestants (and even members of the general public) came in costume. Everyone seemed to enjoy the new prizes for best costume, spookiest pudding, and best pumpkin pudding.

Our wonderful judges—Edie Clark of Yankee magazine, Kathleen Wall of Plimoth Plantation, and Michaelangelo Wescott of the Gypsy Apple Bistro—had to work extra hard this year.

In the past we have held a semi-final round a few weeks before the big day to cull our finalists down to a manageable 15. This year the Sons & Daughters of Hawley had a heavy schedule and couldn’t face adding the semi-finals to it.

The judges therefore had all 27 entries to work on. I have a feeling their digestive systems are only now recovering from the experience!

If we had cut off entries earlier, however, the panel wouldn’t have been able to taste the pudding that won this year.

Paula Zindler of Cummington, Massachusetts, told me she only decided to enter the contest the week before Halloween. Her pumpkin gingerbread pudding delighted both the eyes and the taste buds.

As always, our entertainment took a lighthearted look at the culinary history of my hometown of Hawley, Massachusetts. “The Witches of Pudding Hollow” stirred up a big pot of potion and a lot of fun for thespians and audience members alike.

To read Edie Clark’s description of the judging process, please visit her blog. And if you’d like to see more photos of our big day, please go to the Pudding Festival web site. Meanwhile, here is Paula’s winning pudding recipe.

The Witches of Pudding Hollow (I'm the short witch in the middle) sing about their brew.

Paula’s Pumpkin Gingerbread Pudding

for the Pumpkin Gingerbread:

Ingredients:

1-1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons melted sweet butter
1/3 cup milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a loaf pan well; then line the bottom with buttered waxed paper. Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Combine the wet ingredients in a large bowl and beat until well blended. Gradually add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture, stirring until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the pan, covered with plastic wrap.

Cut the loaf into quarter-inch slices and line a 10-inch buttered ovenproof dish with the slices. (The dish must have 2-inch sides.) Set aside.

for the Vanilla Custard and Assembly:

Ingredients:

2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
3 whole eggs plus 8 egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla

Instructions:

Combine the milk, cream, and sugar in a heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool by stirring for 5 minutes.

Combine the whole eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla in a large bowl and beat lightly until well blended. Quickly whisk 1/2 cup of the slightly cooled milk into the egg mixture and then slowly pour the egg mixture into the milk pot, whisking continuously over low heat.

When the milk mixture just begins to put off steam, remove it from the heat and pour it into the baking dish. Allow the custard to soak into the bread for 10 minutes.

Place the baking dish into a pan of hot water in a 350 oven for 50 minutes or until the custard is set. Enjoy at any temperature.

Serves 8 to 10.

Crowning the Winner

Glazed Autumn Cider Cake

Cider Days are over, but I still have cider on the brain–and in the refrigerator. So I baked a cider cake.

This recipe makes A LOT of cake; it’s great for a brunch or a coffee party. I was lucky enough to have the new Williams-Sonoma “Autumn Leaf” Bundt pan to cook with; it’s not only beautiful but large enough to hold all the batter.

(Full disclosure: Nordic Ware, which manufacturers the pan, gave it to me to play with. I wouldn’t be writing about it if I hadn’t loved working with it, however.)

If you’re serving fewer people or don’t have a huge Bundt pan, you might want to cut the recipe down by a third; use 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, and so forth. In that case, reduce the cooking time as well.

My family and friends had split opinions on the glaze. Several of us (including me) thought it added to the cake’s visual appeal just as glaze adds to the appeal of pottery; it made it shiny and gave it depth. The glaze’s crunch also gave the cake two textures instead of just one.

My mother decided that she would have preferred cream-cheese frosting to offset the cake’s spices. And one of my neighbors suggested that the cake would have been just as tasty with neither icing nor glaze. Experiment as you see fit!

Ingredients:

for the cake:

1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups flour
1 cup cider

for the glaze:

1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 teaspoons cider

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a large Bundt pan or spray it with Baker’s Joy. Cream the butter; then gradually add the sugar, beating well. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the baking powder, salt, and spices.
Gently add the flour to the creamed mixture alternately with the apple cider, beginning and ending with the flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool the cake for 15 minutes on a rack before removing it from the pan. While it is cooling prepare the glaze. Combine the glaze ingredients in a saucepan and bring them to a boil. Simmer them, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes, until they are a little tacky.

Remove the cake from the pan when it is ready, positioning it on a rack under which you have placed waxed paper (the glaze is messy!). Gently spoon or brush the glaze over the cake, piercing a few holes in the cake if you like with a fork to help it absorb the glaze. You may want to wait a few minutes and then spoon up the glaze on the paper and put it back on the cake.

Let the cake cool completely before you serve it. Serves 12 to 16.

Don’t-You-Dare-Boil-Me Brussels Sprouts

I recently picked up a gorgeous stem of Brussels sprouts at M&M Green Valley Produce in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. These little cabbage relatives perk up the farm stand at this time of year, particularly when still on their stems: varying shades of warm green blend with just a hint of pink here and there.

I’m not sure you could call what I do with them (and what most of the world does by now, I should think) a recipe. I’m writing it down anyway. It’s easy, and it’s addictive.

When I was a little girl my family tended to boil Brussels sprouts. This is NOT a cooking method I recommend. The process fills the house with an unappetizing cabbage smell. By the time you get around to eating the darn things they don’t appeal to you at all. To cap it off, they end up pretty soggy.

In contrast, oven-roasted sprouts are crunchy and delicately flavored. The salt and pepper stick to them (because you’ve tossed them with oil) and pop out at you as you eat. Yum! This is as close as a vegetable gets to tasting like dessert.

The only trick is to monitor them in the oven and keep stirring them; they can burn easily. (You can see from the photo below that I was distracted by a phone call and let my most recent batch bake a little too long on one side. They were delicious anyway.)

Next time I think I’ll try roasting a little garlic in with the sprouts. (I’ll let you know how they come out!) Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy them this way as much as my family does……

Ingredients:

2 generous cups Brussels sprouts (compost the pretty stem)
about 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I just drizzle until it looks like enough)
salt and pepper to taste
a little freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and drain your sprouts. Cut off any messy (especially yellow) leaves, and trim the bottoms. With a sharp knife make a little cross in the bottoms to help the sprouts cook evenly.

In a small pan (I use a pie plate) toss the sprouts with the oil, salt, and pepper, making sure they are nicely coated. Roast them, turning from time to time, until they are nicely brown and crispy. This will take between 30 and 45 minutes, depending on the size and age of your sprouts.

Squeeze a little lemon juice on top if you want to, and serve immediately. Serves 4.

Huckleberry Friendship Bars

After I published my Huckleberry Friend post about Johnny Mercer the other day one of my readers expressed her disappointment that I hadn’t included a huckleberry recipe.

Amazingly, I had been so busy expressing myself as a chanteuse that the cook part of me had failed to make that connection!

So I’m rectifying the omission here. Many thanks to Cathy for the idea. I hope the students and teachers at Huckleberry Hill School like these bars.

Since I didn’t have huckleberries on hand I made the bars with the huckleberry’s close cousin, the blueberry.

Ingredients:

3 generous cups huckleberries or blueberries (you may use frozen ones, but defrost them before cooking!)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 cup water
1-1/2 cups uncooked oatmeal
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) sweet butter

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with aluminum foil, and grease the foil.

In a saucepan combine the berries, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Add the cornstarch paste and cook over low heat , stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens. Set it aside to cool.

In a medium bowl mix the dry ingredients and cut the butter into the mixture. Pat 3/4 of this crumb mixture into a the prepared baking dish. Add the fruit mixture. Sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

Cool the bars thoroughly before slicing them. Makes from 16 to 32 bars, depending on your slicing skills.

Johnny Mercer looks for a good huckleberry recipe (Savannah Morning News)

My Huckleberry Friend: A Johnny Mcrcer Tribute

Lyricist Johnny Mercer (Savannah Morning News)

A Johnny Mercer lyric is all the wit you wish you had and all the love you ever lost.

So said Frank Sinatra, one of the great interpreters of American song.

The lyricist John Herndon Mercer (1909-1976) would have turned 100 on November 18. His centennial is being celebrated with tributes all over the world and particularly in his hometown of Savannah, Georgia.

Naturally, I have to get in the act!

Composer/pianist Alice Parker and I will perform a local tribute to Mercer’s music on Friday, November 20, in Colrain, Massachusetts.

Mercer wrote the words to hundreds of memorable songs, including “That Old Black Magic,” “Something’s Gotta Give,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” and “The Autumn Leaves.”

Perhaps because he worked with many different composers, Mercer’s legacy is a little dimmer in the popular mind than those of lyricists such as Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin, and Oscar Hammerstein II. Singers like me love to perform his songs, however.

The Sinatra quotation says it all. Mercer produced brilliant, lively numbers like “Accentuate the Positive” and funny ones like “Lonesome Polecat” from the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Sung by lonely woodchoppers, it offers one of my all-time favorite lines: “A man can’t sleep when he sleeps with sheep.”

And then Mercer hit the ear with a lyric of love and longing like “Blues in the Night” or “Come Rain or Come Shine.” Sometimes it’s all a singer can do to get through these songs without crying.

A couple of my favorite Mercer lyrics are among his more obscure works. I’m a sucker for a sweet tune called “Lullaby” from the short-lived Broadway show Saint Louis Woman, which he wrote with composer Harold Arlen in 1946.

It tenderly evokes memories of early childhood and laments our collective inability to recreate the feelings we had in our parents’ arms.

I also relish one of Mercer’s earliest songs, “Satan’s Li’l Lamb,” a collaboration with Arlen and lyricist Yip Harburg. The three threw it together for an African-American review in New York in 1932.

As soon as the great Broadway belter Ethel Merman heard it she ran out and recorded it. The music and lyrics are bluesy and sad but also funny and self-deprecatory, full of jazz rhythms and chords.

“Satan’s L’il Lamb” also winds up with a high, dramatic passage. High, dramatic passages are better than candy to us sopranos!

In addition to writing songs, Johnny Mercer was an influential performer and a pioneer in the recording industry.

He began his career as an actor and singer; he sang with both the Paul Whiteman and Benny Goodman Orchestras. In his prime he hosted regular radio shows in which he performed and promoted his own songs and those of his peers.

(Savannah Morning News)

In the 1940s he founded Capitol Records, the first major record company on the west coast and a music institution for years to come. It emphasized quality recordings, fairness to composers and musicians in paying royalties, and the development of new talent.

As both a writer and a performer Mercer had a knack for the vernacular that charmed his audience and knocked down doors. Savannah justly claims him as its favorite son; his temperament and artistic sensibility were authentically Southern.

His Southern streak carried disadvantages. Like his fellow sons of the South Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner, Mercer was an alcoholic.

Overall, however, his background stood him in good stead. It enabled him to blend much of the South’s character into his music: its slow pace, the African-American songs he sought out in his youth, the folk music of his Scottish-American heritage.

He wove the landscapes and the sounds of his childhood into his lyrics—the huckleberries he picked as a child, the meadows and the rivers in which he played, the “whoo, whoo” of the trains that passed through town, the lilt of his mother’s Southern accent.

I champion American popular music of all eras. I’m conscious, however that we don’t have lyricists like Johnny Mercer today—versatile poets with an ear for the rhythms of American life and the verve to promote their songs with humor and intelligence. As a historian, singer, and member of the public I’m enjoying getting to know his music better.

His song poems can tell stories as they do in “One for My Baby,” in which the narrator talks about his lost love to a bartender. They can act as traditional love ballads as in “I’m Old Fashioned.” Or they can string together images and sounds to convey a patchwork of emotions as in “Moon River”:

Two drifters, off to see the world.
There’s such a lot of world to see.
We’re after the same rainbow’s end.
Waiting ‘round the bed.
My Huckleberry friend,
Moon River and me.

All of us should take time on November 18 to sing a Mercer tune and or/listen to some of the music of America’s Huckleberry Friend.

The Johnny Mercer Foundation’s web site has a “Johnny Mercer Jukebox” listeners can play. And Turner Classic Movies is featuring his film music every Wednesday during November.

“Blues in the Night,” my program with Alice Parker, will take place at the Green Emporium on Friday, November 20, beginning at 8:30 pm. Pizza, cocktails, and dessert will be served. Reservations are suggested; the restaurant’s number is 413-624-5122.

Cider Days and Cider Pot Roast

Life slows down in early November here in western Massachusetts. Our leaves have begun their steep decline: the bright colors of the local landscape are fast giving way to the grays and silvers that foretell winter’s whites.

Halloween is over (each day I tell myself I will put away the orange lights and haunted houses TOMORROW!), and the family bustle of Thanksgiving has yet to sneak up on us. We might have nothing to do in the hilltowns—if it weren’t for Cider Days.

Cider Days were started about 15 years ago in the quiet town of Colrain, where our lovely hard West County Cider was born. The annual event (which takes place this coming weekend) has several functions.

It celebrates the end of the harvest season. It educates interested folks in the ins and outs of cider making (both hard and sweet) and cider cookery. And it gives local residents a final fall festival of demonstrations, sales, and hearty meals.

Lots of local restaurateurs will be serving apple- and cider-themed dishes, including my friends at the Green Emporium, where apple pizza and apple martinis will be among the featured dishes.

If you’re in the area, take advantage of this final chance to get outdoors before the snow falls, to ponder the harvest and the winter to come.

If you’re not, you may use your own local cider in this slightly sweet pot roast, adapted from cider expert Vrest Orton.

Cider Pot Roast

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups sweet cider (plus more later if needed)1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
5 cloves
1 large onion, sliced
1 3-to-4-pound pot roast
flour as needed
canola oil as needed
1 pound carrots, cut into fairly small slices

Instructions:

Combine the cider, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and onion. Pour this marinade over the beef, and let it stand, covered, in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Turn and baste from time to time. Remove the roast from the marinade (save the marinade!), and sprinkle it with flour.

Heat the oil, and brown the meat in it in a Dutch oven. Lower the heat, add the marinade and about 1 cup water, and cover tightly. Simmer for 3 hours. After the first hour, be sure to turn the roast every half hour or so, and to add more cider and water if the meat looks a bit dry.

At the end of the 3 hours, throw in the carrots; make sure they are covered with liquid. Cook for another 1 to 2 hours. Serve with noodles. Serves 4 to 6.

Cider Maple Vinaigrette

I’m always in the mood for salad--particularly after a weekend dominated by pudding! This fruity dressing works beautifully with greens plus such seasonal add-ons as red onion, apple, dried cranberries, and/or toasted nuts. (A little local cheese doesn't go amiss, either!)

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons cider vinegar (I like the vinegar from Apex Orchards in Shelburne, Massachusetts)
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 tablespoon water
salt and pepper to taste (I use about 7 twists of the pepper grinder and 1/2 teaspoon salt)
10 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions:

In a jar with a tight-fitting lid combine the vinegar, maple syrup, mustard, garlic, water, salt, and pepper. Shake to combine.

Slowly pour in the olive oil and shake or whisk to combine again. This makes about 1 cup of vinaigrette which may be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week. Be sure to bring it to room temperature (and shake it) before you use it.